Tower of Pope John Paul II

We were intrigued when we saw the tower rising in the horizon from one of our survey stations around a major shopping mall in Bacolod. Our local survey staff told us it was a tower dedicated to the late Pope John Paul II. Our curiosity brought us to the tower and we learned it was a museum with a collection of items from John Paul II's travel to Philippines and brief visit to Bacolod in 1981. Each level had different collections of items including the seat used by the Pope in the Mass at San Sebastian Cathedral, vestments, photos and souvenir items from that visit. There are also artwork like paintings and sculptures by local artists (some are for sale). Each level also has two stations of the cross combining for the 14 Stations depicting the passion of Jesus Christ. I can imagine that a lot of people come to the tower for reflection. We were fortunate to be the only ones visiting at the time so we could go up and explore the building and stay quite a bit on the observation deck to take a time out from our work and take photos of the surrounding area.

The tower as seen from our survey station upstream

The tower as seen from across the street - it has 8 levels including the topmost level, which is an observation deck that is open to the elements.

The seat used by the late Pope John Paul II during his brief visit to Bacolod City in 1981 is preserved and on exhibit (permanent?) in the tower.

I took a chance taking a photo of another photo that was part of a collection relating to John Paul II's life. This is a photo of St. Peter's Square in Vatican City.

From the observation deck of the tower, one can see the seaport

Much of the reclaimed area surrounding the tower remains undeveloped

It's all grass stretching from the port to a barangay on the other end of the reclamation

Photo on the observation deck - it doesn't show but it was quite windy and therefore presko at the top. We didn't expect the wind to be cool and fresh-smelling considering we were near the sea and in the city.

Curious cloud formation - is it s dove? is it a phoenix? a colleague says it looked like a sarimanok - a mythical bird in Philippine folklore

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